gatorprincess85

I redeemed points, from the last promotion on my most recent stay in Paris. The rate for the room was 50,000 points or 565 Euro. The hotel does require a credit card to be placed on file before arrival even on a points stay. The hotel is in a perfect location, and easy to reach if taking public transportation from the airport. RER B, to chalet les halles and transfer to RER A and get off at Charles de Gualle Etoile ( the same stop as the Arc de Triomphe). Less than a 2 minute walk from the Metro station down avenue Marceau, which is one block off the Champs Elysees. It is also only a 20 minute walk to the Eiffel tower, or a short metro ride away. Upon arrival, I received early check in (10 am), as well as an upgrade to a Business Room, (previously booked a standard room). The staff were all friendly and helpful. They did not have rooms facing the Arc, as I had inquired about as the hotel was full. The room was large, with a separate door area to block off the bathroom - more modern than I expected. The bed was comfortable - and the room also had a desk, flat screen TV, as well as two chairs and a small table by the windows. In the evening I received a few bottles of water, and a snack plate for being a Club Carlson member.

christianj

Thank you very much for posting this review as I'm planning on doing the same!! I have four award nights booked at the hotel in July as part of our Paris/Cannes/Nice vacation. Was debating between the Radisson or the Hilton AdT (at which I also still have a reward reservation at). Was leaning towards the Radisson due to the location and the smaller size of the hotel as compared to the Hilton. Location looked much better and more centrally located and with only 46 rooms I would get a more boutique feel at the Radisson vs the 400+ rooms at the Hilton. I think your review helped in the decision process and I will probably cancel the Hilton.

A couple of questions if you don't mind:
1. What Club Carlson level are you? Asking because of the upgrade you received. I'm currently Silver but have put in a request for a status match to my Priority Club Platinum Ambassador status.
2. Did you dine at the hotel or anyplace good near the hotel?

gatorprincess85

Hello,

You were in the same position as me- as I debated between the Hilton and Radisson- but, ended up using my Hilton points in Koh Samui. The location of the radisson Was perfect- and I liked the smaller feel.

I am a gold - I also status matched from Hilton Diamond. I did not dine at the hotel- we had a few drink, however, plenty of people were dining at the restaurant. We dined at le cinq (at FS George V) one night. But, with visiting family we did not dine near the hotel for the most part. However, there are several cafe's and numerous restaurants near by.

christianj

Thanks gatorprincess85 for the additional clarification. Hopefully my status match will go through and I can hope for an upgrade. Le Cinq looks amazing!

newbieflyer1

thanks for the review
i booked for 2 nights in july using my points.I got status match to sliver elite hopefully if i get an upgrade it would be nice.

Sweet Willie

key piece of info, thanks for posting the review !

TTnC4me

Thanks for the review. This seems to be one of few hotels that offers the best use of points.

christianj

Agree! That's why we have booked a 4 night award stay in July.

acker

christianj,

If you have a chance when you get back, would you let us know how the stay was? Even a sentence or two would be great. Thx.

Acker

christianj

We just returned from France last night So here are the basics and my overall impressions of the hotel including some pics:

The most important and the redeeming value of the Radisson Blu Champs Elysees IMHO is location, location and location!! The hotel is located very close to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees and you can actually see the Arc when you exit the hotel and look to the right.



The location is perfect for getting around Paris and there are numerous Subway lines that can be accessed at the Etoile Subway stop right near the Arc. If you are a walkers like we are, then you can easily walk most of the main Paris tourist sites like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc.

We arrived at the hotel around 3pm after our connecting flight from LHR. Hotel only has around 46 rooms so it is a small boutique type set up so don't expect a huge grand lobby or a large reception area. We were warmly greeted and checked in fairly quickly. No mention or anything of my Gold status but when I did ask if there was any type of upgrade available I was told the hotel was fully sold out and they couldn't give us a room in front with an Arc view or a Business Class room. (I had checked online before our arrival and the hotel was indeed fully booked.)

We were given a room on the 6th floor and it was basically a normal small room with a somewhat strange angled room layout and a very long hallway leading into the room. Overall it was prefectly acceptable and provided two large floor to ceiling french door windows which had views to the back of the hotel. (Overall not a bad view but definitely not a Arc de Triomphe view everyone hopes for.) Room as was expected for Paris was smaller in size but provided pretty much everything we needed. Room decor and furnishings were nice and in good shape. The rooms have hard wood floors which is not something typically of US hotels. Room also had a refrigerator, flat screen wall mounted tv, small desk with stool, armchair and a round side table. Bed was what I would consider either a queen or a full size and fairly firm.

Hallway of the room:


Room pics:





View from the room:


Bathroom was spacious and modern. Typical european tub/shower combo set up with a very small glass partition that basically caused you to flood the floor every time you showered. (lots of hotels in Europe has this horrible set up). I felt that the overall upkeep of the bath was lacking and there were some noticeable upkeep issues that needed to be addressed like a spot of peeling paint (you will notice it in the second pic below just above the bathrobes), broken tiles and a loose temperature knob on the tub/shower adjuster. I chuck all this up to a lack of communication between the housekeeping staff, the management and who ever is responsible for repairing these small things. (I know I might offend someone here but....I also have learned to adjust my expectations in France on both the upkeep and cleanliness of hotels.....it just ain't the US or Germany after all!!) Overall I wasn't hugely bothered by the issues but they should not be present in a hotel of this price and category.

Bath pics:




Back to the basics of the hotel....lobby area has small bar and a nice restaurant with an outdoor courtyard type dinning area. We ate at the hotel the first night since we were tired from the long trip from the US. Service was typically "French" but overall very good. (just don't expect to eat in a rush....but why go to France if you are going to rush) Food was actually very good and we had a very nice meal. The outdoor courtyard setting was beautiful and a welcome to France's outdoor dining culture. (we ate outdoors during our entire 10 day tour of France)

All the staff we encountered were very friendly and professional. We did have two small issues that were a bit bothersome but nothing really to get worked up about. First we did not receive any type of Gold amenity gift when we arrived. When I asked about it the first time I got kind of a luke warm answer about them sending it up now that I pointed it out. After it did not show, I again asked about it and they then seemed very apologetic about it and said they would send something up. We ended up getting a nice bottle of champagne and some nice sweets. (Sadly on our last evening after we had gotten back from dinner and really couldn't enjoy the stuff.) The other issue was that the hotel seems to be in the dark ages when it comes to technology at check out. I had a Club Carlson Gift card that I had received as a gift and they couldn't figure out how to apply it to the bill at check out. Not something I can understand but oh well.

To summarize, overall a nice hotel but with some issues. The location however is the deciding factor for me to recommend this hotel to those visiting Paris. Just realize you are NOT staying at a high-end luxury hotel even though the prices can be above Euro 500 at times...and remember that standards in some countries are different than those you might be used to. That applies to service speeds and also upkeep.

If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I am sorry for any typos in this review since I'm tired from having just gotten home last night.

acker

christianj,

Thanks for your thorough review. I'm on the fence about booking 5 award nights in January. I have 600K CC points thanks to the latest promo. I'm Diamond @ Hilton, but only Gold @ SPG (and CC) and Platinum @ Hyatt and Priority Club. I'm inclined to burn some points at Champs-Elysées knowing there's no lounge and likely no bfast. The location is great and I think it's okay being in an older European building, funky and all. My husband and I alway stay at Hilton/Hyatt/SPG with all the bells and whistles - maybe it's time for a less over-the-top hotel.

Acker

christianj

acker...we also considered and actually had an alternative booking at the Hilton for our stay but I decided to go with the Radisson for two main reasons...location and size. I am not a big fan of huge convention size hotels for vacation stays and the Hilton has over 400+ rooms so I felt the small boutique type feel of the Radisson would be a better fit. In addition, the location of the Radisson was much better than the Hilton. (FYI the Hilton is leaving the Hilton system..see post in the Hilton forum so you evidently can't book award nights there any more anyway)

I also looked at the Starwood options but the points requirement for them seemed ridiculously high for what you were getting at the new W and I wasn't keen on the Westin's location. The best point alternative in Paris seems to be the Hyatt Vendome but I didn't want to use all of my Hyatt points. Priority Club has the Le Grand and the Avenue Marceau (which is just down the street from the Radisson Champs Elysees but it was originally a Crowne Plaza and also evidently has some very small rooms). We used PC in Cannes after our 4 days in Paris at the IC Carlton and I feel it was a much better choice than using the points in Paris.

I also thought about what other Radisson properties I was likely to use my points at and decided that CC was the way to go in Paris since there aren't too many locations with Radisson's that we would be likely to use points at in the near future. (we want to go to Greece and Spain the next two years and the CC options there aren't as good and as plentiful as in Paris).

acker

christianj,

I think after considering all the Paris hotel possibilities you and I both came to the same conclusion: we have status/points with the most other chains but the best bang for the buck (or CC point) is Radisson Blu Champs-Elysées. I won't be using CC points for stays in the US and as you mention the Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris is soon to be rebranded. No sense having CC points if you don't use them in a city where they have a very decent property. I booked our 5 award nights last night and will keep my toes and fingers crossed for a room with a view. If that doesn't happen, life will go on. Will report back in February.

Acker

christianj

acker,
Think you will be happy with the choice if your not expecting pure luxury. I think the Radisson Dokhan Trocadero actually seems a bit more luxurious and traditional in style and maybe a bit more "French" but I didn't like the location. For us the location was key since we were out most of the day and for dinner at night anyway so the room was a place to sleep, relax and shower and not much more.

metoo

Thanks very much for posting your review and pictures.